ON THE LAM' Lamoriello has been associated with. The other elephant in the room is the looming contract situation with star captain John Tavares. Set to be an unrestricted free agent on July 1, it sure seems like Tavares and his high-powered agent, Pat B
Where there is smoke, there is fire. And so it is with the mutual interest between the Islanders and the legendary Lou Lamoriello.
As reports out of Canada — see: Toronto — said Friday night, there have been some ancillary conversations connecting Lamoriello to the Islanders, even while any direct conversation apparently has yet to be commenced, according to league sources. The Islanders officially had no comment on the situation.
Lamoriello is still currently a senior adviser to the Maple Leafs after he was bumped out of the general manager’s chair (as per his contract) a few weeks ago and replaced Friday by the young Kyle Dubas.
The Islanders are still steadfast in the belief issued by co-owner Jon Ledecky that he is “evaluating all aspects of our hockey operations.” That includes the future of current GM Garth Snow and second-year head coach Doug Weight. Yet even if Lamoriello is hired, that hardly means everyone is going to be fired.
At a bizarre end-of-theyear press conference on April 9, Snow and Weight both proclaimed confidence in their own job security. That was the same press conference at which Ledecky issued a strange prepared statement with his declaration of him “failing” the fans after missing the playoffs for the second straight year, as well as the proclamation of evaluations to come.
Lamoriello, 75, won three Stanley Cups while running the Devils. He had a similar role as overseer with New Jersey when they hired Ray Shero as the GM in 2015, but he lasted only one year before taking on the challenge of rebuilding the Maple Leafs.
Maybe the biggest lure for Lamoriello coming to Long Island is that his son, Chris, has been an assistant GM to Snow since August 2016. Snow is known to have a close relationship with Lou, hence the Islanders’ uncanny ability to keep things tight-lipped even if they can’t match the on-ice product or the buttoned-up professionalism that has defined every organization